the angels by name so that no one would imagine that any of them possessed such knowledge. He said:

“Nor the angels who are in heaven,”

and then added,

“nor does the Son know it; the Father alone knows it.”

Thus he denied that the Son has knowledge of it and affirmed that the Father alone knows it. By “the Son” he meant the Messiah; it is therefore evident that the Messiah does not know it, whereas the Lord knows it without the Son. This shows that, in the Messiah’s usage, the word “Son” refers solely to the nāsūt (human nature), for it is impermissible to deny knowledge of the lāhūt (divine nature)—the divine nature knows everything.

It likewise follows that his statement,

“Baptize the people in the name of the Father and the Son,”

is meant only for the human nature. The same holds true wherever he or anyone else uses the word “Son”: never did any of them intend by it the divine nature. Rather, applying “Son” to the divine nature is an innovation introduced by the Christians, who then imposed that meaning on the Messiah’s words. In so doing they coined names for Allah’s attributes for which He has sent down no authority, and forced the Messiah’s speech into those terms. Yet the words of the prophets—peace be upon them—and of others must be understood according to the meaning of their own language in which they customarily spoke, not according to a terminology invented after them and then projected onto their words.

I said: What the Christians and their likes have done opens the door to heresy in the revealed books of Allah. Allah the Exalted has said:

“Indeed, those who deviate concerning Our signs are not hidden from Us. So, is he who will be thrown into the Fire better, or he who will come secure on the Day of Resurrection?” ⦗Fussilat: 40⦘.